DECISION SHEET :- CASE 1

Infosys (A): Strategic Human Resource Management

Theoretical Background:

Hema Ravichandar, head of human resources, was given a new and aggressive milestone to
ensure Infosys is on the Top 10 lists of Best Performing Companies and Best Employers by
2007. No large organisation had ever achieved this distinction because of the tension between
the need to control costs for financial performance and the expenditure required for employee
satisfaction. Ravichandar was aware of the humbling experiences of the past that made
Infosys aware of the difficulties ahead as it transitioned from a small to a large company. As
it continued to grow with each passing year, the diversity and disparity of the employee
hierarchy was becoming more apparent and middle and senior managers were not in touch
with the rapidly changing realities of the employees at lower-levels. Managers were unable to
understand the frustrations of the lower-level employees who were doing less interesting
work and found it challenging to take a hands-on approach to management and also struggled
with effective delegation as their responsibilities expanded. This ultimately led to a high
turnover rate, even though the company was expanding and growing, which meant high
employee costs because of the need to build up recruiting efforts. 

Facts of the Case:

 Hema Ravichandar is the HR leader of the Infosys group and is given the challenging
task of ensuring that Infosys is in the top 10 list of both best performing companies
and best employers.
 From March 1993 to March 2003, Infosys had a compound annual growth rate of
65% and its revenues jumped from US$5 Mn to US$754 Mn.
 Infosys had been ranked No.1 in the business Today Best employer survey both in
2001 and 2002 but it fell of the best employer list in 2003.
 After a near death experience Infosys changed its strategy and shifted its focus from
Body shopping to Offshoring and Global Delivery model.
 Traditionally Infosys focussed on lower end of IT value chain namely IT management
and implementation but over time Infosys moved towards providing higher end value
added services.
 There’s an emotional bonding at Infosys that enables employees to pursue their area
of interest and there’s also fun and community empathy at workplace along with the
focus on values.
 There’s a huge power and communication gap between the middle/senior managers
and the employees.
 Company already has an appraisal system in terms of Variable pay and Promotion
policy but despite that the employee satisfaction level is continuously declining.

Problem:

 Infosys facing challenges executing work efficiently.

 Infosys was facing issue resulting from its continuing growth.
 Lack of Communication.
 Employee Dissatisfaction.
 Organization Structure.
 Lack of clarity in assigning the job roles.
 Employee Expectations across subsidiaries was a new challenge for Infosys.

Problem Statement:

How Does Infosys sustain its growth and diversification strategies along with employee
satisfaction ?

Evaluation for Criteria

 Work Efficiency
 Company Performance
 Employee Satisfaction
 Cost of the Company
 Time to implement new changes
Alternatives

1. Communication: Communication should be effective in all the levels of the

organization. Infosys should work to reduce the communication barriers so that
employees at every level can get a clear picture of the management policies and
programs.
2. Motivation: Employee need to be motivated for the work they do. Infosys should
come with monetary and non-monetary employee recognition program to reward the
work done by the employee.
3. Remuneration policy: Remuneration policy should be clear and simple. There must
be some correlation between fixed and variable component to pay.
4. Work Environment: Infosys should come up with an informal kind of environment
for work and sometimes too much hierarchy diminishes the efficiency of the
employee and affects the employee satisfaction.
5. Feedback: Feedback or a help desk should be created in both an online and offline
manner.
Evaluation for Alternatives

 If the management focuses on better communication among themselves and with the
employee, this would make things clear to the employee and they would believe that
their views are also considered in taking certain decisions. This would in turn increase
employee satisfaction, increase the working efficiency and improve company’s
performance. As all the criteria seem to be fulfilled in this option, this seems to be the
best option to implement.
 If the management takes up the employee recognition program, it would score
on employee satisfaction, working efficiency and company performance but
loose on cost to the company criteria, as providing the employees with bonuses
and goodies will add to the cost in the company’s balance sheet.
  Clear remuneration policy will remove any dilemma in the mind of the
employee but would not guarantee employee satisfaction, better efficiency and
improvement in the company’s performance.
 If the management goes forward with the option of providing better
recreational or informal culture, it would increase employee satisfaction,
increase efficiency and improve company’s performance, but will increase the
cost to the company and decrease its profitability.

Solution

Effective communication at all levels of the organization is the best available option for the
current situation. The company’s performance and employee satisfaction will increase,
execution challenges will decrease, and there is negligible cost to the company for
implementing this option. The feasibility of this option is very high and can be implemented
with very less time. Employees thought that the organization was more impersonal and that
some of the perks of the initial years were being repealed. This recommendation will change
the employees’ perspective towards the organization.

Prepared By: Bhavishya Goyal-2227907

Date : 10th November 20222

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